With Brittany and Nadia in street clothes due to unspecified injuries (Brittany wore a boot on her right foot), Stanford did not represent quite such a dominating force against the UC Riverside Highlanders as they might have done at full strength. However, a period of smothering defense in the first quarter — a quarter that ended 20-6 — opened a comfortable lead that held for the next 25 minutes of play.
In the fourth period, the Highlanders recovered their poise, and in the final minutes, with the Stanford B-team on the floor, closed to within 10 points, prompting Tara to bring back a couple of starters in order to stifle any possibility of an embarrassingly dramatic conclusion.
Stanford out-rebounded the smaller Highlanders 59-44, although the Cardinal conceded many more turnovers, 19-10. Both teams shot abysmally from beyond the arc, UC hitting only 1 of 21 tries, and Stanford hardly better at 3 of 28.
Dijonai was the player of the game. In 31 minutes she scored a team-high 13 points and pulled down a personal-record 22 rebounds, for her first career double-double. Except for Riverside's sparkplug Michelle Curry, who scored 15, Dijonai was the high scorer. She would have had more points had she connected on any of the eight three-point attempts she put up.
Alanna, who was consistently double- or triple-teamed, had eleven points, four rebounds, a steal and a block.
Kaylee had eight points on 4-6 shooting (she hit her first four attempts), and collected ten rebounds, three blocks and a steal.
Marta had six points, all on free throws. She drove to the basket five times, never connecting but being fouled three times. She tallied four assists against two turnovers.
Maya played 17 minutes, scored five points, found three rebounds and blocked one shot.
Kiana played 14 minutes at the point, hit one of Stanford's three, three-pointers, and tallied three assists with one turnover.
Here are game reports and commentary:
- Carrington has 13 and 22, No. 14 Stanford beats UC Riverside, the Associated Press game recap
- Stanford women's basketball rebounds with win over UC Riverside, the Pac-12 game recap video
- Women's Basketball Shines On Defense, the UC Riverside Athletics game recap
- Career night for Carrington, the Stanford Athletics game recap
- A tough hoops win to come by for No. 14 Stanford women by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online)
- WBB: Stanford 53 UC Riverside 43 from the CARDboard
A video interview of Dijonai, "I tried to crash as hard as I could",
The audio press conference , with Tara and Dijonai.
And a gallery of photos by Bob Drebin (isiphotos.com),
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